Sunday, January 15, 2012

Mano Amiga Development Director to present at the World Economic Forum

Mano Amiga Academy Development Director Eleanor Pinugu was recently heralded by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a Global Young Shaper. She will be joining Save the Philippine Seas movement founder Anna Oposa and San Vicente Mayor Carmela Alvarez in representing the Philippines at the upcoming WEF Annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Eleanor has also been asked to present the Mano Amiga project in the Ideaslab session where she'll be discussing with the WEF participants, including different heads of state, the Mano Amiga model, it successes and how she could further improve it.

MANILA, Philippines - Nine outstanding young Filipinos were chosen as
among the 2012 “Young Global Shapers” of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

“The Young Global Shapers are exceptional achievers who initiated projects that have positive impact in the community,”
said ABS-CBN news anchor Karen Davila, WEF Young Global Leader 2010 and Founding Curator for the YGS Manila Hub.

The nine individuals – whose ages range from 20 to 30 - have been
accepted by the WEF as potential leaders because of their positive impact in
their communities, said Davila.

Oposa, 23, co-founded the Save Philippine Seas movement to protect the
world’s richest marine life, and “Isko Cleans
UP,” a waste management program in the University of the Philippines-Diliman.
She is the daughter of Ramon Magsaysay awardee, environmentalist lawyer Tony
Oposa.

Alvarez, 24, the youngest female mayor of San Vicente, has a degree in
International Business Administration with a concentration in Environmental
Technology and Global Marketing Management from Babson College in Boston. She
aims to transform the town into a tourist destination
municipality using sustainable development technology to preserve its natural
environment and help residents become self-reliant in terms of its present and
future needs.

Samaniego, 21, is co-founder and chief executive officer of Outliers,
a social enterprise that serves as an outsourced business expertise for
non-profit organizations.

Jaboneta, 30, founded the movement Philippine Funds for Little Kids
that helps schoolchildren in Zamboanga City who had to swim to go to school. He was the first and former New Media Head of
the Presidential Communications Operations Office under President Aquino. He is
also a board member of the Kabayanihan Foundation and Team Pinoy, Inc.

Lim is a practicing physician in San Pablo, Laguna. He is a program
consultant of the Asian Institute of Management Zuellig Center for Asian
Business Transformation, a research associate of the UP Universal Health Care Study Group, and the proponent of the
Quisumbing-Escandor Film Festival for Health and serves as adviser in various
health-related projects.

Pinugu is the founder of Mano Amiga Academy, Inc, a non-profit school
that provides underprivileged Filipino children access to fourteen years of
high quality education (K-12th grade), and all
other support they need to have a better life. After two years of raising funds
for the students’ scholarships through private donations and corporate
partnerships, she helped establish a social enterprise that would generate
a steady income for Mano Amiga, and at the same time give employment
opportunities to the mothers of the students.

Ople, 25, is an advocate of countryside development through the
adoption of innovative agricultural technology with profitable business
concepts and ideas. She is also one of the founders of the Hagonoy Young
Leaders Program and has worked with the Ayala Foundation on youth leadership
and development projects. She is currently taking up law.

Gonzalez was recently appointed as Special Advocate for Children for
the United Nations Children’s Fund-Philippines.

Eduque, 21, is involved with various humanitarian projects and
endeavors in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Philippines. She has been
working with the organization for about seven years now, and is the founder and
chairperson of the Habitat for Humanity Philippines Youth Council.

Davila said of the nine achievers, only Oposa, Pinugu and Alvarez were
invited by the WEF to the 2012 conference in Davos, Switzerland next week.

The WEF is a Geneva-based non-profit organization best known for its
annual meeting in Davos. It is an independent international organization
committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political,
academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry
agendas.

The organization launched last year the Global Shapers community aimed
at providing the youth with a global platform to shape the future – integrating
personal, community and global dimensions. This community will help youth
develop their leadership potential to serve society.

The Global Shapers community includes extraordinary young individuals
with great potential for future leadership roles in society. Aged between 20
and 30 years, they represent all walks of life and share a spirit of entrepreneurship
in the global public interest, the WEF said.